Secrets of Great Second Meals: Flexible Modern Recipes That Value Time and Limit Waste

This high-spirited cookbook suffers from an identity crisis. Ostensibly, it's a guide to using leftovers from other meals. But in reality, it's an immensely detailed, generous master class in techniques and options for producing flavorful and varied dishes. Dickerman (Bon Appetit: The Food Lover's Cleanse) begins with the section "Getting to Cooked," explaining basic techniques for cooking various staples—beans, pork, chicken, vegetables. Each of these techniques offers multiple variations, both in preparation and in ways to use the item once it's been prepared. The remainder of the book is made up of recipes presented as archetypes: Fish Cake, Pureed Soup, Bean Salad. These revolve around one of the already cooked items described in "Getting to Cooked" and, again, offer multiple variations. The recipes are sometimes elaborate but easy to follow, and they yield delicious meals. Turkey-vegetable tortilla soup, for example, uses turkey stock and cooked turkey in a spicy and hearty variation on a post-Thanksgiving classic.